Source: SrdjanPav / Getty
Arielle Haspel, the White owner of Lucky Lee’s, a new “Chinese restaurant” that serves a “clean” take on the cuisine, is getting doused in slander sauce for cultural appropriation.
Add Chinese food on the list of things White folks are trying to whitewash. The Manhattan nutritionist felt the need to open up the restaurant where both she and her food-sensitive clients could enjoy Chinese cuisine that wasn’t “too oily” or made them feel “bloated and icky.”
Lucky Lee’s was is that place, and since it’s Monday opening, she has been catching more heat than the “clean” food the restaurant serves. Things like the restaurant’s name Lee’s is obviously nauseating because both Haspel and her husband are not Asian, the inside features bamboo and jade decorations and the logo features a chopstick-inspired font. So yeah it’s no surprise she is getting fried like rice on Twitter.
Haspel claims in an interview on Thursday that she had nothing but good intentions when she opened up the restaurant and was “shocked” when critics called her out for cultural appropriation.
“We are so sorry,” Ms. Haspel said. “We were never trying to do something against the Chinese community. We thought we were complementing an incredibly important cuisine, in a way that would cater to people that had certain dietary requirements.”
Trying to get ahead of the backlash she even began deleting problematic posts off her Instagram account but it’s too late cause the damage has already been done. She also mentioned passing on a ridiculous idea to put a decal in the window that said: “Wok in, Take Out.”
Whether her cultural appropriation is on purpose or accidental is still an issue, and Twitter definitely let her know that it is not here for her “clean” Chinese food.
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Photo: SrdjanPav / Getty
